Interview by J. Donaghy
Bombing Science: Starting with the basics. What do you write? Where are you from? How long have you been writing?
Rough: Remi/Rough, from South London and I’ve been writing graffiti for a quarter of a century this year.
BS: How did you get into graffiti?
Rough: I was already into electro music and breakdancing, then I changed school around 1985 and I remember this kid Nick Cristea bringing the book – Subway Art into school one day. We copied pretty much all the pieces out of that book bit by bit until I felt confident to go out and paint my first wall. After that initial stepping stone, I was thoroughly addicted to painting walls.
BS: How’s is the graffiti scene in your area?
Rough: There is no scene in my area. Graffiti has become so fragmented in the UK nowadays… It all seems to revolve around certain areas.
BS: What surface/atmosphere do you enjoy painting most?
Rough: This changes on a daily basis… I always get off on painting walls… I love walls and that’s where my heart lies. But right now I’m painting a lot of large scale canvases.
BS: As a designer also, do you tend to mesh both art forms with each other or keep them separate?
Rough: To be honest, there’s no line of separation, I am an artist first and foremost, so I tackle any brief in much the same way. A computer is simply a different creative tool. But I find that elements of both worlds have a habit of leaking into each other.
BS: How has graffiti positively influenced your life?
Rough: It has given me a career, a life and a vocation… I am an extremely lucky person to be able to spend my days doing the thing I love the most. Not many people can boast the same I’m sure…
BS: From what do you draw inspiration for your work?
Rough: So many things… Architecture plays a big part in my work, the lines and angles… Also architecture and buildings are a graffiti artist’s original canvas, so it seems only right to repay the compliment by referencing that. I am also very influenced by colour and structure. There are still many elements within my artworks that reference the original ethics of graffiti writing, but things change and mutate at such a fast pace, you need to constantly develop and experiment in order to pinpoint what routes to traverse.
BS: When you work on a project (design and graffiti), do you typically have a heavy concept or just go with your first thoughts?
Rough: When I paint there are colour and shape ideas but not necessarily a complete design as such. It’s pretty much the same with the design work. Again tho I am lucky that most of the design work I am offered, I am offered due to my artristic capabilites and therefore I am usually left alone to be a lot more creative.
BS: You’ve also put together a good mix of hip hop/electronica music. How does that relate to your lifestyle? Is it thrown into the same creative mix as your art?
Rough: My music is just another creative path. I treat it in much the same way as my artwork, there’s a lot of experiments in colour and sound going on. But I still love basic melody and song writing. Music is music, I don’t really differentiate between genres. As long as it’s good music, that’s cool by me.
BS: Do you ever feel like you’re caught between work and lifestyle?
Rough: My work is my lifestyle… and my lifestyle is my work.
BS: What’s your outlook on graffiti these days?
Rough: I think the lines between street art and graffiti are becoming a little bit too blurred. Graffiti as an artform need to move forward, certain artists like The Seventh Letter Crew are definitely doing that, but a lot of people are just going over the same old formulas from 20 years ago…
BS: Any advice to striving artists/designers?
Rough: Keep on keeping on…
BS: Last words?
Rough: Pink and black.
